Fakir Lalon Shah

Nothing makes me more home sick, more nostalgic than the thought of visiting Assam. Trapped as it is by a providence of birth in Bangladesh (in 1957), born to proud Assamese Muslim parents who immigrated in 1952 to East Pakistan from Borholla and Jorhat, my life has been an endless limbo when it came to the question of identity. I was born a citizen of Pakistan and after 1971 by default became a citizen of the Peoples Republic of Bangladesh, yet I was raised as an innocent Assamese child by my parents with a 'cursed sense of simplicity', with strict regimen in the practice of the Assamese language at home, and appreciation of its rich culture and heritage, with songs and Bihu festivities and its observance within the tight knit communities in Bangladesh from ujoni Asom or upper Assam. I had every reason to hold my head high with pride. The greatest gift that I have inherited from my parents is an ability to speak the purest of Assamese in the Sibsagar-Jorhat dialect which leaves many, especially in Assam awestruck ! Yet in my impressionable childhood when it came to visiting Assam they were rare and in-between occurrences and would happen during my winter vacations from school or during the weddings of any of my maternal uncles or aunts – who were in the dozens! In Assam my earliest recollections is getting thoroughly spoilt with gifts that were heaped on me, playing mischievous games and pranks with my cousins who were over fifty in number, the visit to my parental Gorajan Tea Estate in Borholla on a horse driven buggy, and the incessant travels to Jorhat Town, Dibrugarh Tezpur, Guwahati, Furkating, and several more. The greatest treat in my visit to Assam would be the family picnics or the shikars or hunts organized by my uncles. It was with a sense of pride that I would hold in my hand the array of family owned 12 bore shotguns, the .22 bore rifles and of course the 'pride of the aristocracy' the Browning Citori double barreled guns. My parents never permitted me to shoot a gun without an elder overseeing me – nor did they permit me to shoot and kill animals, so my joining the shikars was mainly for the fun of it all and overnight camping and the occasional pigeon that I would defy my Dad's instruction and shoot anyway. However two things about Assam continued to attract me like a magnet and perhaps still does, its natural beauty and its people – who I have no hesitation to state are perhaps the finest, gentle, humorous and polite folks I have met anywhere in the world.

The article attempts to analyse songs and philosophy of Lalon Shah who is considered one of the greatest Baul singers in the history of Baul tradition. Through textual analysis of some of his songs the article argues that Lalon propounded existential humanism even before Sartre wrote Existentialism is a Humanism in 1946 and termed existential humanism “an optimistic philosophy”. It sheds light on the facts that Lalon was well aware of modern technological inventions, and his philosophy on life and the world is deeper and more comprehensive than any other western philosophy. His philosophical message is still relevant in the present world and can lead us to the path of humanity. Finally, the article shows how Rabindranath Tagore became inspired by the devotional songs and philosophy of Lalon and turned himself into a kind of Baul.

Fair warning: Spirituality is tedious business. One has to read boring books whose contents will all too often help or force you to go to sleep. Spirituality most times will sedate you, not excite you. But for those of us who live life in raptures and ecstasies – the words of God, Saints, Sages, Hermits, Bauls and other ‘mad women and men’ dissolves us into exciting, uncontrollable crying sighing raptures all in Love, in Prem, Ishq in dissolving into our beings and telling the world – life goes on! 

Love of God is the strongest addiction known to mankind. Interestingly in these times of ‘digital addiction’ when overuse and misuse of our millennium devices such as phones, laptops, applications – even TV, near perfectly clones the disruptions to our brains – that otherwise can only happen among heavy heroin or cocaine abusers and zombies, Love&God is yet the strongest drugs going around in the planet and thankfully more powerful than the Hate&Kill drug – or am I mistaken again?

There is fundamentally more to Baul spirituality and scripture than merely the music and lyrics that one comes by, and conceivably nobody can ‘delve deep’ into the music form without having some basic understanding and concepts about its tottyo. This book
is an attempt to understand and explain the intricacies of the Baul scriptures. The esoteric couplets, sentences and arguments that usually have moral or historical over tone, the pointed reminders, the signature lines, and the over all thrust of arguments within a very short periphery of time, the alankar (embellishments), all mesh in and combine to create a completed aura of ethereal munificence. Baul music with exceptions follows different traditions and Guru’s in every district of Bangladesh, and sometimes each has its own unique Guru Shishya parampara (student/teachers discourses), leading on to birth of newer, progressive and more challenging schools of thoughts.

While Fakir Lalon Shah is the most celebrated of sages of Bangladesh, the schools of Baul thought encapsulates perhaps several hundred more sages and men of great wisdom, whose writings and philosophies continue to inspire and whose graves
more often than not, take on the shape of shrines, usually devoid of any religious or sectarian symbolism. Being an oral tradition Baul music ironically is also one of our near extinct heritages as most of the works have either disappeared or have been claimed by
unscrupulous people over time. Studies on authorship of many Baul songs (including those of Lalon) and their relevance to original scores and or manuscripts remains a very complicated process and is mired by many unfortunate controversies. To top it off, it is believed that while there were over 300 different types of Baul melodies or tunes; today we are left with scarcely 35. While researching the Bauliana album, I could identify only 20 authentic tunes.

The essays ‘Bauliana: Worshipping the Great God in Man’ in 2003 were written through a feeling of guilt and remorse. While I did receive praise for my work for the musical album of 1996, troubling me intently was a feeling of not been able to share the many
words of wisdom that were imparted to me by the Baul’s over the years to a wider audience, teachings I was sure would benefit a lot of later day enthusiasts. I had made scores of notes at the time, as also consigned most of the teachings to memory but there was always a deep apprehension, that unless my writings were passed on hand to
hand; all the hard work that went into it, will fail my original intention i.e. opening newer dimensions into reading on Baul music, lyrics, philosophy and way of life.

The social, academic and intellectual construct given to the Baul  movement ofBengal for centuries have been attempts by the elite status quo to box-in the music, lifestyle and philosophy of Fakirs, Sadhus and Sages of our time, thereby limiting them to easily explainable parameters and expected norms, practices of spirituality.

Baul philosophy is however unique in that it challenges these constructs in the epochal tangents setting it apart from other ‘religions’ or beliefs. Our dominant heritage culture, especially those practised by the marginalised majority, the construed ‘subalterns’ has therefore traditionally been in conflict and at odds with the city centers The objective of this essay is to give readers a concise yet coherent understanding to the basis of the Baul creed, its history, philosophy, complex spirituality and lofty ideals. It also aims to present us an opportunity to appreciate why the teachings of Fakir Lalon Shah has become so pertinent in present day Bangladesh which is beset with sectarian strife of an unimaginable magnitude, and perhaps lessons we may inculcate to the way forward..

The author, as a member of linguist community, of this paper had tried decipher one song of Fakir Lalon Shah (1774–1890 A.D.), one of the line of which is like this “ When silence would swallow non-silence” by deploying various methods of Mandyukoponisad, Bhatrihari’s three stages of languages (baikhari, madhyma, pasyanti) and Abhinavagupta’s paravak. Different body-parts, according to Tantrika world-views, were also illustrated to understand silenceme. The author also incorporated Kabir (1440–1518 A.D.) and Dadu’s (1544–1603 A.D.) epistemological concepts of silenceme, which were beyond the periphery of ‘modern’ linguistics, though physicists are now interested to know the brain-function of such meditative states by using SPECT and PET scan as a part of their anatomo-bio-political agenda. The author ultimately proposed a new disciplinary technology, called “Silence Studies”. In this case, John Cage’s musical compositions deeply influenced the author.

English version is available at : http://www.sahapedia.org/non-linguistics-of-silenceme-lalon

"The purpose of this Bangladesh centric paper is to present an overview of Baul music and its evolution from the 8th century until present times. While there are many scholarly and academic works in the Bangla language available as open source in the public domain in Bangladesh, there are few if any materials available for researchers or academics in the field in English language.

The writer of this paper thus aims to present the evolution and historical strides made by Baul music exponent and practitioners as well as the deep rooted spirituality and philosophies of the Fakirs and Shadhus - the ultimate stakeholders of the tradition, to capture the essence of their ingrained and very unorthodox belief system. Baul music and philosophy has dominated the thinking of Bengals cultural literati with regards to religion – its use and misuse, and it’s well documented power of syncretic assimilation of faith. The paper deals extensively with the Akhara tradition and offers a snapshot of Baul social system as well as transmission ladder of its venerated Saints and Sages.

It also dwells extensively on music and musicological history of the Bauls from ancient times to the present – underscoring important millstones and milestones of the Baul movement. Needless to mention the author presents the paper from the perspective of an insider to the Baul belief system – a practitioner, musician and writer who has for 27 years has explored the myriad aspects of Baul life in Bangladesh."

This article makes use of the author’s field research as well as primary and secondary textual sources to examine Islamic esoteric content, as mediated by local forms of Bengali Sufism, in Bāul Fakiri songs. I provide a general summary of Bāul Fakiri poets, including their relationship to ­Islam as well as their departure from Islamic orthodoxy, and present critical annotated translations of five songs attributed to the nineteenth-century Bengali poet Lālan Fakir (popularly known as “Lalon”). I also examine the relationship of Bāul Fakiri sexual rites (sādhanā) and principles of embodiment (dehatattva), framed in Islamic terminology, to extant scholarship on Haṭhayoga and Tantra. In the final part of the article I emphasize how the content of these songs demonstrates the importance of esotericism as a salient category in a Bāul Fakiri context and offer an argument for its explanatory power outside of domains that are perceived to be exclusively Western.

In the Post-Lalon period, Khoda Box Sai(1928-1990) has a prominent position in genre of Baul music in Bangladesh. Like Lalon, Khoda Box Sai’s songs are also varied. Especially his Shyama music has special features. Khoda Box Sai was a Muslim by birth; was a follower of Islam. After his debut as a Baul, a kind of change took place in his ideology. He has freed himself from communal discrimination and has revealed his own identity by composing and performing music in the style of Hindu, Vaishnava, and Shakta verses. There may be other reasons too, and that is after initiation in Baulm, he stayed in the homes of manyHindu people  and made sadhusango with them. As a result, Krishna’s group songs, Vaishnava songs, and Shyama songs have a special space in his music. In this article, the nature and uniqueness of Khada Box Sai’s Shyama Sangeet have been analyzed from the point of view of folk culture. In addition to his written text, the information gathered through the field observation and interview has been used as need.

As the verse chosen as a title for this article emblematically shows, esoteric movements have consistently used secrecy as a literary topos in their oral and written cultural expressions for a number of purposes. Scholars of South Asian religions, especially those in field of Tantric studies, have been scrutinizing for decades the need for secretive doctrines and a secret code-language (sandhy¯ a bh¯ as. ¯ a), mostly interrogating textual sources and neglecting the contemporary experience and exegetical authority of living lineages. In this paper, I firstly address ethical and epistemological problems in the study of esoteric religious movements in order to propose innovative methodological strategies. Then, I offer numerous examples drawn from extensive fieldwork and in-depth literary study of contemporary esoteric lineages of West Bengal (India) and Bangladesh, in order to discuss the local discourse on secrecy. Finally, I review previously assumed notions on secrecy in South Asian religions, and I suggest to take into serious consideration local perspectives on the accessibility of esoteric knowledge, leading to a more nuanced idea of secrecy, constantly subjected to temporal and situational negotiations between silence and disclosure.

Bauls, the nomadic cult, originated in undivided rural Bengal of the 8 th century (approx.) is the name of an "oppositional culture" (Antanio Gramsci, 1971) in the state of cultural hegemony which is far beyond the stereotype definition, norms, parameters of our "known" culture. Baul, the "madman" titled by Poet Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, is the forename of wandering minstrel folks, the song, the tradition, the "-ism" and lastly, the culture. The religions, divisions of society, egoism are sheer earthly belongings of the materialistic world to the Baul culture. The only canon they follow is the "quest for Universal Truth" through mystical yet satirical music and poetry. The Baul music is the infusion of Vaishnavism, Tantric Buddhism, Shaktism, and Sufism. Most of their songs express sahaja (spontaneity), sadhana (religious practice) and bhav (state of ecstasy). The manifestation of the body is one of the pillars of their tradition as they believe God is within the human body, the microcosm of the universe. There is a proverb in Baul culture that, "what is not in the body is not in the universe." Hence, it could be asserted that the path they follow belongs to the higher realm of existentialism, humanitarianism, and spiritualism; in a way it ethos the philosophy of life with emancipating the fluidity of their voices. However, Baul song could be considered as an "objet d'art" as we envisage the elements of "Visual Arts" and also has a lineage to literature. Over the last few decades, Baul music is longer only belong to the pastoral Bengal, it stretches out the humanitarian essence to the Western world after "Baul Samrat" Purna Das shared stage with music legends like Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Mick Jagger in 1963 and with Bob Marley in 1973 and thereafter collaborated with Bob Dylan and Mick Jagger in 1984 to explore Baul music and its aesthetics. Baul music is recognized as an Intangible Heritage of Bengal yet World by UNESCO understanding its historic footprint to preserve the saga of humanitarianism even in the turmoil sociopolitical circumstances. This paper will demonstrate the etymological source of Baul, the root of their culture, their philosophy towards life, the doctrines which are the pillars of their culture, relevancy of Baul music in contemporary space and moreover, the nomadic yet mystical journey from a marginalized cult to a cultural heritage.

'' ‘মনের মানুষ’ কি? কার মনের মানুষ? সুনীল-গৌতম ‘মনের মানুষ’ বলতে কি বোঝেন? ... সিনেমায় কি বুঝানো হল? লালন ফকির মনের মানুষের সঙ্গে মিলনের অপেক্ষায় থাকলেন, অথচ সুনীল-গৌতম দেখান যে মনের মানুষই তাকে দিয়ে কি সব কথাবার্তা বলায়। ‘মনের মানুষ’ কি আমাদের ‘অচেতন’? আমাদের ‘ইতিহাস’? সমাজ-উর্দ্ধ অলৌকিক সত্তা? ভাবাদর্শের উঁকিঝুঁকি? অস্পষ্ট থাকে ছবিতে। কিন্তু এই বই-ছবির সুনীল-গৌতমের ‘মনের মানুষ’ পরিস্ফুট এই বই-ছবিতে। কর্পোরেট পুঁজির যুগে তাদের মনের মানুষ হল কর্পোরেট ‘মনের মানুষ’। ইনকর্পোরেটেড। কর্পোরেটাইজড। কর্পোরেট বান্ধব। কর্পোরেট। কিরকম? মসৃন, মিষ্টি, কোমল, রহস্যময়, অনির্দিষ্ট,’অন্যরকম’, ‘আমাদের’, ‘ভালো’, ‘মানবতাবাদি’, ‘কুল’, ‘সেক্সি’।''

On the Politics of the film 'Moner Manush'. The film is about Lalon Fakir and the baul-fakir tradition of Bengal. But To what extent this film represents these this tradition and how? What is the cultural politics of this film ? How do we understand this film in a context of commodification and appropriation of the traditions and values of these radical praxises?

Call it Bengalee Islam, Sufi Islam, Ma’arefoti Islam or whatever, the overarching truth behind the phenomenon’s finds roots in several coordinates that endeared them to the genetically secular Bengalees. For one, the idea of peace, brotherhood and respect for fellow human beings has always been integral in the belief systems of all major religions of the world with Bengal and Bengalee Islam being no exception. Secondly the lofty ideals of cohesion and assimilation that the Vaishnavite expounded where in no way dissimilar to what the Sufi Muslims where preaching and coalesced very well when they were making their initial inroads into India. And thirdly and most importantly, the Bengalee respect for food, agriculture and the natural cycles and its rejection of crass capitalism meant that these so-called ‘subordinate cultures of the riff raffs’ had many a common element to resist the aggression and oppression of the British rulers who had looted and pillaged India, leaving it to a state of pauperization. This is quite opposed to the wealth and prosperity witnessed before the British entered India. Therefore when it came to resistance, Bengalees had more reasons to challenge the imperial status quo, and all of it to consolidate itself with penchant for music and prayers.

This document contains email exchanges with an Architecture student and me which may prove useful for those interested to know whether the Bauliana philosophy can be incorporated to a skillful discipline such as architecture. The name of the student and her institution is not mentioned here with respect to her confidentiality. RKM’s emails are in italics :

In this unusual essay drawing on the textual analysis of some songs by Fakir Lalon Shah, on the philosophy of ashtanga yoga and on personal experience spanning many religious traditions, Deborah Zannat tackles one of the most mysterious and most talked-about topics of all times: love. What love can be, what love can do, how to find it, keep it, give it and take it, are some of the questions that flow throughout this exploration. Looking at love from three points of view, that of a negative, of a positive and of a zero, Deborah Zannat argues that true love is divine yet within human endeavour. That cultivating love requires strong discipline and restraint, which she names the taming of the mind, related to the negative, to subtraction; it also requires positive acts of caring, that love is what love does, as Lalon Shah highlighted the five qualities of love according to Sri Chaitanya, related to addition. And most difficult of all, located in the dangerous fertility of the zero, the necessity of baring the mind to settle in peaceful, selfless, true and constructive acts of love – and this does not occur without struggle and resistance, without alluring traps and great risks. While Sufis claim to be the only path of love, Deborah Zannat here shows that any complete mystical boon necessarily yields love, whichever path may have been walked to acquire it. And that this pure divine love is human’s highest achievement.

From foreign researchers to local observers, notwithstanding of course practitioning disciples, all cannot but agree that the Baul-Fakir path has reserved a very special place to women. But how does this special positioning fare when confronted with one of the most disruptive theories of modern times - feminism?
Using two songs collected from her guru, one from Raj Khyapa and another by Rajkrishna, Deborah Cukierman proposes in this essay in Bengali preliminary thoughts and questions stemming from her experience both as a researcher and as a female-bodied practitioner.

This article traces back classical Greek and Medieval meanings of habitus to show that Bourdieu's redefinition of habitus discarded a seminal feature of Aristotelian habitus-the power of radically transforming the self at will. I elaborate how the practices of purposefully training the embodied self remains marginalized in Pierre Bourdieu's re-conceptualization of habitus. Examining Aristotle's habitus, this paper brings back the focus on the long-neglected insight of the power of deliberately (re)training the self in constructing a heterodox but ethical way of being and socializing. As an example, I refer to the Fakirs in current Bangladesh, who cultivate antinomian life-practices. The main argument of the paper is that habitus in Bourdieu's formulations is less suitable than Aristotle's in analysing the praxis of the Fakirs. I suggest that instead of sticking to a universal conceptualization of habitus, sociologists should consider with equal importance both models of habitus articulated by Aristotle and Bourdieu. Doing that could benefit contemporary sociology in two ways: First, Aristotle's conceptualization of habitus is an important tool in identifying the sociological importance of the praxis of marginalized groups, e.g., Fakirs in Bangladesh; and second, extending the focus of a key sociological concept, i.e., habitus, addresses the apparent disconnect between the wisdom of heterodox practitioners in the Global South and dominant social theories built upon the analyses of European and American social traditions.

This small-scale essay written in Bengali mainly bases its analysis on two songs collected from Deborah’s guru, Fakir Nahir Shah, to lay out a quick outline of the Baul Modelization of the Human Being. The author breaks away from any kind of academic speculation and concentrates on the current outcome of her quest for the Supreme through direct sadhana practices. Simple and straight statements offer novel perspectives in Baul Studies, bringing a new point of view to apprehend the Baul society and Baul music – beyond their educative and entertaining vigor, even beyond traditional religious perspective.

Bureaucracy is the management apparatus of a state administration. Even in private sector, bureaucratic organization is very much essential for its smooth functioning and betterment. A legalized domination of bureaucracy only can ensure highest efficiency of an organization in a country. But the state bureaucracy of Bangladesh not developed legally from Pre-colonial period to post-colonial phase as well as an independent Bangladesh eventually. The state bureaucracy of Bangladesh is patrimonial in nature based on personal interests. The politicians and bureaucrats are interdependent in various manners for the fulfillment of their purpose illegally in Democratic Bangladesh. Simultaneously, the impact of militarism still exists in state bureaucracy of Bangladesh as it faced military rule in several times.